Alexander Rybak: "Any young musician wants to be understood"

Posted
10 April 2018 at 23:30 CEST

Last Saturday, Norway's Alexander Rybak performed on stage during Virtuos, the national selection for Eurovision Young Musicians 2018. Birgitta Elisa Oftestad won the competition and the honour of representing her country this summer in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Four of Norway's best young classical musicians performed live on stage on the 7th of April, but it was 15-year old Birgitta who convinced the judges most with her talent. She performed with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

Eurovision 2009 winner and Norway's 2018 representative Alexander Rybak had some advice for young Birgitta: "Listen to your teacher to gain professional weight, be patient, and do not forget to cultivate your specialties. And of course, always write down your ideas!"

This advice also reflects in Alexander's song for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest That's How You Write A Song: "My song is about believing in your talent, and writing down your ideas. You never know what comes from the smallest idea!"

About Alexander Rybak

Alexander was born in Minsk, Belarus. At the age of 5, he and his family moved to Oslo. He learned to play violin at an early age, and it was not long before he started performing on stage. In 2006, he won NRK's talent competition Kjempesjansen (The Big Break) with his own jazz inspired composition, Foolin'.

Alexander Rybak became a household name across Europe after winning the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest for Norway with the song Fairytale. With a total of 387 points, his victory marked the highest recorded score in the history of the contest at that time. Fairytale went on to top the charts in many European countries, and the follow-up album, Fairytales, was released in 25 countries.

About Eurovision Young Musicians

The Eurovision Young Musicians competition took place for the first time back in 1982 with 6 participating countries. Over the past decades, it has become one of the most important classical music competitions internationally.

This biennial competition for young, talented musicians has been an important and effective tool for fostering the careers of promising, talented musicians in Europe, by allowing them to perform to the widest possible audience.

Over time, 37 different countries have been represented in the competition, throughout 18 events. The 19th edition of the competition will take place in Edinburgh, on 18, 19 and 23rd of August, 2018. Albania will make its debut in 2018.

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The Eurovision Song Contest is organized by the
European Broadcasting Union,
the world's foremost alliance of public service media, representing 117 member organizations in
56 countries and an additional 34 Associates in Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas.

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